Subject: The 5-line handoff that saves hours
BRAINFILE #019 — Thu, Sep 24, 2026
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Preheader: Write the handoff BEFORE the context limit, not after the panic.
SESSION HANDOFFS THAT SURVIVE A CONTEXT RESET
Every long Claude Code session ends the same way: context fills, the thread dies, and the next session spends 30 minutes rediscovering what the last one knew. The fix is a standing handoff file — written DURING the work, not scrambled at the end.
THE PATTERN
1. Maintain HANDOFF.md as you go
Update it at every milestone, not when the context warning appears. By then the model is already dumb about details.
2. Five sections, nothing else
State (what's true now) / Next action (the literal next command or edit) / Open decisions / Gotchas discovered / Files touched. If it doesn't fit one screen, it's a report, not a handoff.
3. New session starts by reading it
Put the rule in CLAUDE.md: "On start, read HANDOFF.md if present." The new session resumes mid-stride instead of re-exploring.
COPY-PASTE THIS
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HANDOFF.md (update at every milestone — one screen max)
State
auth flow works; refresh-token bug remains on Safari.
Next action
run pnpm test auth — 2 failing tests name the bug exactly.
Open decisions
cookie vs localStorage for refresh token (leaning cookie).
Gotchas
dev server caches .env — restart after any env change.
Files touched
src/auth/*.ts, middleware.ts
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WHY THIS WORKS
The 'next action' line is the whole trick — a literal command removes the re-orientation cost that eats the first half hour of every resumed session. We keep one of these per work stream and sessions resume in under a minute.
(Our own session-startup + handoff discipline, shrunk to the 5 sections that earn their space.)
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